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Tuckaleechee Caverns Remains Family Business

BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. – The Vananda family has taken its business underground. Phillip and Steven Vananda and their families operate Tuckaleechee Caverns, which their father started in 1953.

The cave served as the late Bill Vananda's playground when he was growing up in the Dry Valley area of Townsend. From the time he was four years old, he would spend time exploring the underground wonder. When he reached adulthood, he decided he wanted to open the cave commercially. He partnered with Harry Myers, and the two set out to improve upon what nature had already provided.

“They went all over the Southeast and all over the country to see commercial caves,” said Steve Vananda. “The first two years the cave was open, there was no electricity in the valley, so you had to go through with Coleman lanterns. They built wooden steps and used crushed limestone on the trails. People laughed at them; they thought they were wasting their money.”

Money in those days was tight for Bill Vananda. He worked in the off-season as a carpenter and used any additional funds on improving the cave. He and Myers did most of the work with help from family and friends.

As popularity of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park soared, so did that of the caverns. Money that was made from the cave was sunk back into the venture.

In 1982, Bill Vananda bought out Myers and became the sole owner of Tuckaleechee Caverns. Steve Vananda has worked at the caverns off and on since 1965. When Bill Vananda was diagnosed with lung cancer, Steve took over operations of the business.

“I worked other jobs, but I knew this is what I wanted to do,” said Steve Vananda.

The National Cave Association rates Tuckaleechee Caverns, which means “Peaceful Valley” in Cherokee, as a Class B cave, because it draws between 50,000 and 100,000 visitors a year. A one-mile trip takes visitors through the cool, damp cave. They file past formations that have been there for thousands of years.

As visitors tour the quiet underground attraction, they can hear calcite dripping from the stalactites. They look on in amazement at the formations jutting from the floor and ceiling of the cave. The rock and crystal formations are illuminated to create a fairyland atmosphere.

Visitors to Townsend and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park frequently make the caverns, which are open to the public from March to November, a stop on their journey. And school groups from all over the country and from Canada use the cave as an underground classroom.

“I think it's a good cave,” said Steve Vananda. “I've been through caves all over the country, and have only seen two that are comparable.” Interestingly enough, the caves are rumored to have hid Cherokee Indians in the 1840s during the Trail of Tears.

The caverns are located on Old Tuckaleechee Road in Townsend. For more information on the Tuckaleechee Caverns, please visit www.TuckaleecheeCaverns.com or call (865) 448-2274.

About Blount County, Tennessee

Blount County, Tennessee is located just south of Knoxville at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The communities that make up Blount County—Townsend, Maryville, Alcoa, Friendsville, Louisville and Rockford – provide visitors with an abundance of outdoor activities, attractions and regular celebrations of the region’s rich Appalachian heritage and culture. Blount County is also home to the nation’s most visited national park—the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

For more information about Blount County, please contact the Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority at (800) 525.6834 or visit www.SmokyMountains.org. Follow the Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority at www.Facebook.com/PeacefulSide and Twitter.com/PeacefulSmokies.

If you are in the area, please stop in to the Smoky Mountain Visitors Center at Townsend, located at 7906 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, or the Smoky Mountain Visitors Center at Maryville, located at 201 South Washington Street, for more information. (January 2013)

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